Disable Smilies in This Post. Show Signature: include your profile signature. Only registered users may have signatures.

*If HTML and/or UBB Code are enabled, this means you can use HTML and/or UBB Code in your message.

If you have previously registered, but forgotten your password, click here.

T O P I C R E V I E W

Robert Pearlman

NASA/NOAA release

GOES-R: Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite - R Series

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-R Series (GOES-R) is the next generation of geostationary weather satellites. There are four satellites in the series: GOES-R, GOES-S, GOES-T and GOES-U. The GOES-R Series Program is a collaborative development and acquisition effort between the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to develop, launch and operate the satellites.

The GOES-R series satellites will provide continuous imagery and atmospheric measurements of Earth's Western Hemisphere, total lightning data, and space weather monitoring to provide critical atmospheric, hydrologic, oceanic, climatic, solar and space data.

The GOES-R Program is managed by NOAA with an integrated NOAA-NASA program office organization, staffed with personnel from NOAA and NASA, and supported by industry contractors. The Program is co-located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

GOES-R is composed of the GOES-R Program Office and two integrated NOAA-NASA project offices: the Flight Project and the Ground Segment Project. The Flight Project oversees the development of the space segment of the mission, which consists of the spacecraft, the instruments, launch vehicle, and the auxiliary communication payloads. The Ground Segment Project oversees the facilities, antenna sites, and the software and hardware for satellite command and control, processes data, and creates and distributes end user products.

The GOES-R series will maintain the two-satellite system implemented by the current GOES satellites. However, the locations of the operational GOES-R series satellites will be 75⁰ W and 137⁰ W. The latter is a shift from current GOES at 135⁰ W in order to eliminate conflicts with other satellite systems. The GOES-R series operational lifetime extends through December 2036. For a history of GOES satellites, click here.

GOES-R is scheduled to launch on November 19, 2016 at 5:42 p.m. EST. The satellite will launch from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, aboard an Atlas V 541 rocket.

GOES-R, which will be known as GOES-16 once it reaches geostationary orbit, will be placed in the 89.5° checkout orbit where it will undergo an extended checkout and validation phase of approximately one year. The satellite will transition to operations immediately afterward.

GOES-R's operational orbit has not yet been determined. The final decision will be based on the health and performance of the GOES constellation. NOAA's Office of Satellite and Product Operations will be responsible for determining the operational orbit for GOES-R.

JPSastro

Live coverage of the GOES-R weather satellite is currently being broadcast via cable/satellite on The Weather Channel.

The launch is currently been delayed to 6:17 p.m. EST due to a issue with the Atlas 5 launch vehicle. Techs are trying to resolve the issue. The launch window is only one hour today. Original launch time was 5:42 p.m. EST.

Robert Pearlman

Launch is now targeted for 6:42 p.m. EST (2342 GMT), the end of the window.

The technical issue with the Atlas V has now been resolved, per NASA, but the Eastern Range is working an issue.

Robert Pearlman

The Eastern Range issue is resolved. Launch is targeted for 6:42 p.m. EST (2342 GMT), the end of the window.

NASA successfully launched the second in a series of next-generation weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) at 5:02 p.m. EST Thursday (March 1).

NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-S (GOES-S) lifted off on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket from Space Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

GOES-S mission managers confirmed at 8:58 p.m. the spacecraft's solar arrays successfully deployed and the spacecraft was operating on its own power.

The satellite will provide faster, more accurate and more detailed data, in near real-time, to track storm systems, lightning, wildfires, coastal fog and other hazards that affect the western United States.

"We at NASA Science are proud to support our joint agency partner NOAA on today's launch of GOES-S, a national asset that will impact lives across the Western Hemisphere each and every day," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, who attended today's launch.

Once GOES-S is positioned in a geostationary orbit 22,300 miles above Earth, in approximately two weeks, it will be renamed GOES-17. Later this year, after undergoing a full checkout and validation of its six high-tech instruments, the new satellite will move to the GOES-West position and become operational. From there, it constantly will provide advanced imagery and atmospheric measurements, real-time mapping of lightning activity, and improved monitoring of solar activity and space weather.

In addition to improving weather forecasts, GOES-17 will help forecasters locate and track wildfires – invaluable information that emergency response teams need to fight fires and evacuate people out of harm's way. GOES-17 also will be an important tool for forecasters to track and predict the formation and dissipation of fog, which can disrupt airport operations.

GOES-17 will work in tandem with GOES-16, the first satellite in NOAA's new geostationary series, now at the GOES-East position. GOES-17 will extend observational high-resolution satellite coverage of the revolutionary new technology aboard GOES-16 to most of the Western Hemisphere, from the west coast of Africa to New Zealand, and from near the Arctic Circle to near the Antarctic Circle. The satellite will provide more and better data than is currently available over the northeastern Pacific Ocean, the birthplace of many weather systems that affect the continental U.S.

NOAA manages the GOES-R Series program through an integrated NOAA/NASA office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. NASA also oversees the acquisition of the spacecraft, instruments and launch vehicles. Lockheed Martin Space of Littleton, Colorado, built the spacecraft and is responsible for spacecraft development, integration and testing.

Mission operations will be performed by NOAA at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, Maryland. Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Florida, provided the main instrument payload, the Advanced Baseline Imager, and the ground system, which includes the antenna system for data receipt. NASA's Launch Services Program, based at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is responsible for launch management. ULA of Centennial, Colorado, is the provider of the Atlas V launch service.